Godzilla (2014) Saturday Monster Movies

Perhaps the most fascinating aspect of 2014’s Godzilla is the passivity of it’s human protagonist. We accompany Lt. Ford and view the story through his perspective, but he has virtually no impact on the events. It always feels as though he will affect the outcomes of the story, but he never really does much. Instead, we witness the impact and destruction of the Kaiju, including Godzilla, helplessly.

Perhaps this is a reflection of the lesson that life throws things at us and we have to merely take it. There are hints that it is human activity that triggers the appearance of the Kaiju in this movie, but it is hard to say exactly how it happened and how it could have been avoided. It wasn’t avoided, so there is little use in speculating. Humans try to mitigate the disaster, but it ultimately has to play itself out. “Let the fight.”

Sometimes we have to accept the fact that we have very little control over the world around us. We tell ourselves a lie that if we do things right and make the correct choices, we will live a blessed, care-free life. That is folly.

Even Christianity, when carefully examined, does not teach this. For all the “Health and Wealth” preachers out there. Jesus preached a life of hardship and persecution for His followers in this sin-filled world. We can’t avoid problems by following Him, but we trust Him in the storms as we follow Him.